Minister for Food and Civil Supplies P. Venkataramanan has blamed the previous DMK government responsible for paddy bags piling up at godowns across the delta region.Addressing the media on the sidelines of his inspection visit to the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation godowns, direct procurement centres, and public distribution shops in Thanjavur on Saturday, the Minister said the previous government procured paddy from farmers and stored at godowns in the past seven or eight months. “It failed to ensure movement of the same for hulling resulting in overflowing of paddy bags at the godowns”, he said.Stating that the situation might be a fallout of the DMK government’s decision to relinquish the localised transportation tender system and introducing a new system of tender wherein the movement of paddy bags were handled from five places, Mr. Venkataramanan said the tender issued by the previous DMK government was all set to end by this month. A decision to revert back to the old tender system or to continue with the existing system would be taken after holding discussions with the officials.While around 3.50 lakh tonnes of paddy remain at the godowns maintained by the TNCSC in Thanjavur district, 1.90 lakh tonnes remain at the godowns in Mayiladuthurai and 1.20 lakh tonnes in Nagapattinam district, he said.To a question on demand for increasing the hulling charges, Mr. Venkataramanan said the demands of private mill owners would be considered if they present the same in writing and a high-level discussion would be held.Claiming that the State government was expecting a procurement of around 65 lakh tonnes of paddy during the present paddy cultivation season across the State, he said efforts were being initiated to increase the number of storage points apart from reducing the paddy piled up at the godowns.For instance, discussions were held with the Dharmapuram Aadheenam and Vailankanni Basilica authorities for setting up paddy bags storage points on the lands/sites owned by them. In addition to this, steps had been taken to use 10 acres of land belonging to the Kumbakonam Corporation for this purpose, he added.Skirting a question whether the government would advise farmers not to go in for kuruvai cultivation this season in view of the low storage at Mettur and declaring delta districts as drought hit, the Minister said that in Thanjavur district alone 54,000 borewells existed and if farmers were in distress steps would be taken to help them tide over the crisis.Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay had alread announced ₹134-crore ‘kuruvai special package,’ he pointed out. Published - June 13, 2026 04:45 pm IST